Wintersday

At Noon Pacific (-8 GMT) on December 19th, the Wintersday festival begins. Enjoy the seasonal quests, delightful drops, special activities, and more! The icy celebration culminates in a final battle of the gods, every three hours, starting at 12:01 AM Pacific on January 1st. For more information, visit http://www.guildwars.com/.

See towns glimmering with festive décor, deliver presents to needy little urchins, defeat the scheming Grentches, and spread Wintersday cheer to your fellow Tyrians! The fun culminates with a grand finale that runs every three hours on January 1!

The Wintersday grand finale runs every 3 hours starting at 12:01 am PST on January 1st, and ending 12:01 am PST on January 2nd in Lion's Arch. Finales also take place in Kamadan, which, historically, runs 15 minutes later.

The finale involves the Avatars of Dwayna and Grenth opposing each other in a mini-game similar to Nine Rings at the Shing Jea Boardwalk, but the price is Candy Cane Shards instead of Festival Tickets. The gods earn points for each supporter standing on one of their rings. Playing this game counts towards your Lucky and Unlucky title tracks. Each round costs 1 Candy Cane Shard. Players standing in the winning ring receive a Wintersday Gift and three, four, or five shards (depending on whether one stands on the center, edge, or corner rings respectively) plus an equal number of Lucky points. Those standing on an adjacent ring receive two shards and two Lucky points; everyone else receives 1 Unlucky point.

At the end of the finale, approximately a dozen Wintersday Gifts will be added to everyone's inventory, regardless of whether they played the mini-game or not. The gifts appear about once a minute for 15 minutes, so remain in the district until the winning deity says farewell and leaves. One random Wintergreen weapon (not dependent on the primary nor current secondary profession of your character, nor weapons that are equipped) will also be added to everyone's inventory at the end of the first finale attended by each account.

The opposing Guild Lord drops 10 Wintersday Gifts for each player of the winning team when he dies. To prevent exploitation, no rewards are offered if (a) the match ends after 28 minutes without either side killing a Guild Lord or (b) the battle ends in under 5 minutes (e.g. due to one team resigning or zoning).

Unlike all other Wintersday NPCs, Rift Warden does not appear until December 20, 20:00 UTC.

Bug.In Wintersday 2014, from the start of the first finale (i.e. January 1, 2015, 08:01 UTC) until the end of the event (i.e. January 2, 20:00 UTC), the Frozen Accessory Token-related NPCs (i.e. Brrrnadette, Krunch, Brrrtie, and Krisp) stopped appearing in Lion's Arch and Kamadan districts that were created before the first Winterday finale began (e.g. Lion's Arch America district 1, Kamadan America 1 to 3, and Lion's Arch and Kamadan International 1), but they continued to appear in Lion's Arch and Kamadan districts that were created after the first finale began (e.g. Korean district 1 [probably because that district was empty and was only created when a character map traveled there] and Lion's Arch and Kamadan America 5 and higher).